Spell of Neptune
by erma200
Summary: The Senshi have to deal with a new threat that faces Crystal Tokyo.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters.

Chapter 1

The sound of clashing swords split the night air. The king raised his weapon to fend off his attacker. He slipped out of reach of one swordsman, only to be hit in the side by another. Grasping his wound, he fell to his knees and dropped his sword. These men where his own that had turned against him. So much for loyalty

A figure can be seen in the tower. Her sea green hair flowing behind her in the chilled wind and sorrow clouding her deep blue eyes. In her hands, she clasped a brooch with the symbol of her host planet; the one whose name she took on when she used its power. Neptune

A sharp pain hit her in the side and she fell to one knee. As quickly as it had come, the pain subsided.

The door across the room was flung open and a cloaked figure stood in its frame.

"Michiru!" the newcomer was immediately at her friend's side. Her hood had fallen behind her, revealing her long, sandy blond hair. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen but was in fact far wiser and far more experienced than that.

Michiru could see the worry in her friend's eyes.

"I'm fine, Celeste," Michiru knew that this wasn't enough to convince anyone.

Celeste helped Michiru to her feet, who stumbled almost as soon as she was up.

"We must hurry and get you out of here," Celeste said this so quickly that it was barely understandable. She took her cloak off and draped it over Michiru's shoulders.

Before long, the two women had made their way through the dark corridors of the castle to the quarry and just beyond that was a dense forest. Celeste had prepared a cream mare named Stardust for Michiru to ride.

Quickly Michiru mounted the horse but hesitated to take off.

"What's wrong?" Celeste demanded. She sounded harsh but she knew that the longer Michiru stayed here, the more danger she was in.

Michiru's voice was barely audible, "Promise me you'll take care of Daku." She looked Celeste straight in the eye.

"You know I will," Celeste's voice had softened. The small infant meant a great deal to Michiru and after tonight, he would be Celeste's responsibility.

Michiru nodded. If there was one person outside of the Senshi that she could trust, it was Celeste. She flung the hood on the dark gray cloak up so that her face was almost completely immersed in shadows.

Within seconds, she had disappeared into the dark forest, leaving Celeste with nothing more to do than turn around and head out of the bitter cold night.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

Michiru heard the sound of thundering hooves behind her. She spun her head around and saw two horsemen coming up behind her. Two more where coming up on her sides. They where boxing her in.

Pulling hard on the reins, Michiru brought Stardust to a stop. The four men on horseback quickly surrounded her. She dismounted Stardust, as if to surrender, but instead gripped her brooch and shouted, "Neptune Eternal Power! Make-up!"

A bright teal light emerged from the brooch. When it subsided, Michiru was standing in her normal pose that she used when she transformed into Sailor Neptune.

"Protected by the planet Neptune, I am the warrior of the deep, Sailor Neptune!" Neptune had given this intro so many times in the past that it had become second nature to her.

One of the horsemen fired a silver arrow at Neptune. She tried to dodge it but wasn't quite quick enough. It just grazed her right arm but was enough to draw blood.

Another soldier charged the senshi with his sword pointed at the ground. She dodged the sword and got ready for the next attack. Neptune didn't have to wait long for the third man to come at her much as the second one had. Neptune dodged it just as easily as she had before. When Sailor Neptune looked into the face of the man who had just missed her, instead of seeing frustration on his face, he looked as if he were pleased with himself. It finally dawned on her. Neptune spun around in time to see the fourth man bring his sword down on her.

The force of the impact was enough to knock Sailor Neptune flat on her back. She looked up and was staring up the blade of a sword. It's owner had dismounted his horse. He raised the sword in preparation to strike.

"Space Sword Blaster!"

The man's weapon was knocked out of his hands by a bright yellow blast of pure energy.

Neptune looked farther up the road, past her attacker. There stood three more senshi. The middle one, who had short blond hair that almost made her look like a guy, was pointing a gold, bejeweled saber at the man who had just lost his weapon.

On each side of her stood another senshi. One had deep green, almost black hair and held a staff that seemed to resemble a key. The third looked to be much younger than the other two. She had short, black hair and her weapon was a glaive. The first senshi lowered her saber.

"Protected by the planet Uranus, I am the warrior of flight, Sailor Uranus!"

"Protected by the planet Pluto, I am the warrior of revolution, Sailor Pluto!"

Protected by the planet Saturn, I am the warrior of ruin and rebirth, Sailor Saturn!"

The first horseman fired an arrow at the three senshi.

"Silence Wall!" Sailor Saturn easily deflected the arrow using her attack that surrounded the group in a dark energy.

"World Shaking!"

"Dead Scream."

Sailor Uranus and Sailor Pluto each let loose their attacks on the four men who were now retreating.

Sailor Neptune tried to get to her feet but just fell back down. She was starting to feel faint. By examining the wound on her side, Neptune found that it was much deeper than she had originally thought and she was loosing blood fast. Neptune closed her eyes and let the darkness take her.

Once all the horsemen were gone, Sailor Saturn leaned her glaive up against a tree and went to check on Neptune. Uranus and Pluto stayed where they were in case those men decided to come back.

Sailor Saturn kneeled next to Sailor Neptune. The first thing she saw made her gasp in disbelief.

"Uranus! Pluto!" this was all that she could manage to choke out.

The other two senshi were at Saturn's side in a heartbeat.

"What happened?" Sailor Pluto asked this even though she feared that she already knew the answer.

Saturn rose to her feet and was clearly holding back tears. She slowly opened her hands to reveal Neptune's brooch, that had once been a bright teal, was dimming to gray.

"No," for once in her life, Sailor Uranus was at a loss for words. She took the brooch from Saturn and clutched it in her hand. Much as none of them wanted it to be true, the three knew they couldn't change the fact that their friend was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters.

Chapter 3

A bronze sword came down on Kari. She blocked the attack with her own weapon. The attacker was a tall girl with extremely short blond hair that made her look like a guy. She was much fast than Kari, and they both knew it.

Kari sidestepped to dodge another blow. If it kept going like this, Kari would become too tire to continue.

"Hey, Kari," a voice cried out from the sidelines, "how about attacking her?" This was Setsuna's way of trying to help the young senshi.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Kari retorted. She made the mistake of turning toward Setsuna and away from her attacker. The opportunity was taken and Kari was knocked backward into the fountain.

"Well, that's that," Haruka said while putting her sword back in its sheath.

"That was a cheap shot!" Kari shouted at her mentor while she sat up.

"You should have been paying attention to your training instead of letting your mind wander to who knows where," Haruka spat back.

Setsuna let out a sigh. These two have been arguing constantly since Kari arrived.

"In her defense, I was talking to her at that point," Setsuna said. Haruka was walking away. Setsuna let out another sigh and went to help Kari out of the fountain. Hotaru was right on her heals.

"Is she always going to be like that?" Kari asked Setsuna and Hotaru when they came over.

"Hey, if it helps, Haruka tried to kill me when she found out I was Sailor Saturn," Hotaru said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Shockingly enough, that doesn't make me feel better," Kari told them and then plopped back down into the water. It wasn't deep enough to completely cover her so she just lied there and stared up at the sky.

"You sure you don't want any help?" Setsuna prompted.

"No, I'm good."

Setsuna just shrugged and she and Hotaru left with Kari still in the water.

Kari closed her eyes to think. She had only been at the Crystal Palace for three short weeks and there was so much she didn't understand. The biggest was why Haruka, who was supposed to be her trusted partner, hated her so much.

"So, you just planning on lying there all day?"

Kari opened her eyes and saw exactly who she thought it was. Staring at her was a ginger kitten, with bright green eyes and a gold crescent moon on his forehead that you would not notice unless you were looking for it, named Sola. Although he preferred to be called Sol because he thinks Sola is too feminine.

Shaking her head, Kari once again sat up in the water. Sol jumped down from the top part of the fountain and landed on Kari's shoulder. Kari worked her way out of the fountain and started walking, soaking wet, back to her room.

"How did training go?" Sol asked as they made their way through the corridors.

"I got my butt kicked by Haruka," Kari informed him.

"Again?"

"Shut up."

"Not my fault you can't handle a sword."

"Alright, Smart guy, how are your lessons with Luna and Artemis going?" Kari knew she had just turned the table on him.

"It gets pretty boring when mom and dad are trying to teach you 'the responsibility of being a talking cat'. They could at least try to make it more interesting. I'm a kitten for crying out loud! I have a maximum attention span of-"

"Five seconds?"

"Exactly! Thanks for backing me up, Kari."

Kari snickered. "That wasn't me."

"Then who-"

Just then, a black cat, with read eyes and a gold crescent moon, just like Sol's, jumped out in front of Kari.

"If you're going to talk badly about you parents' lessons, then at least try and make sure one of them is not in earshot," the black cat glared up at Kari's shoulder where Sol was trying to make himself much smaller. The cat softened her tone and became more formal. "Anyway, Neptune," she turned her gaze to Kari, "Neo-Queen Serenity wishes to see and the other senshi in her throne room immediately."

"Of course," Kari said to the cat, "but first, I should probably go dry off."

"Very well," Luna said turning away from them, "I'll inform the queen that you'll be a little late."

"Thank you, Luna."

The black cat flicked her tail to show that she had heard and went back down the hallway that she had just came from.

Sol waited for her to be out of earshot before he spoke, "Isn't my mom awesome?"

Kari heard the sarcasm in his voice but chose not to acknowledge it. She just shook her head and continued down the corridor a little faster than before. One question rang in her head: Why did Neo-Queen Serenity want to meet with all the senshi?


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters.

Chapter 4

Kari was walking down the corridor th\at lead to the throne room. She had dried off as quickly as she could and was now hoping that she wasn't too late.

Sol trailed behind her at quite a distance. He just couldn't keep up with Kari's brisk pace, seeing as he was significantly smaller than she was. Kari stopped to let him catch up.

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry you?" Kari called back to him.

Sol straightened up a little. "It is improper for a senshi to carry their guardian cat into a meeting with the queen."

"Did you quote that from your mom?"

"Maybe…"

Kari shook her head at him and continued walking. Sol did pick up his pace, but not by much. Once she got outside the throne room, Kari waited for Sol to be at her side before she pushed the curtain aside and entered.

Kari stepped through the tall, silver curtains and entered the throne room. The light was so much brighter in here that she had to close her eyes in order to give them time to adjust.

Once her eyes had been blinked into focus, Kari was able to see the throne room in all its glory. The bright light was caused by sunshine filtering in through an opening in the ceiling and reflecting off the walls that were made of a bright blue crystal. This was the very heart of the Crystal Palace. Kari had been in here only once before, when she was accepted as a senshi.

Seven other girls, who were much older than Kari, were gathered in the center of the room. She recognized Haruka, Setsuna, and Hotaru among them. The others she only knew by their senshi names. They were all listening to a white cat, with the gold crescent moon on his forehead, named Artemis. Kari obviously hadn't missed anything because no members of the royal family were here yet.

"Neptune," Artemis called from the middle of the group, "you need to hear this too."

Kari felt the stares of the others as she took her place between Haruka and Setsuna

"Better late than never," Haruka said to Kari with a sneer.

Artemis cleared his throat, "If you are done, Uranus, we can continue."

Kari smiled to herself. Finally, someone was getting onto her mentor for being such a pain.

"Now-" Artemis started but was cut off by the sound of trumpets.

The senshi quickly moved from being in their to circle to being in a row in front of the throne.

Artemis went to sit by Venus and Sol sat by Kari. Luna and Diana stayed over to the side.

Before long, a woman with long, blonde hair put up into two buns that fell back into ponytails entered the room. She wore a long, flowing, white gown and walked in a manner that demanded respect.

The eight senshi kneeled before Neo-Queen Serenity until they were told to rise.

"I believe Artemis has already explained the situation to all of you," Serenity didn't waste any time getting to the point.

The others nodded but Kari was left with a confused look on her face.

The queen noticed this and started to explain, "As you are aware, we have been at odds with our neighboring Kingdom, Elivion, fore some time now. The two kingdoms share some," she took a long pause here, trying to find the correct words, "unfortunate history."

The others grew uneasy at this but Kari was still clueless as ever.

"The people of Elivion have started to flee into Crystal Tokyo, and their king is furious at me for not forcing them to return." Serenity took another pause to let this sink in.

Jupiter was the first to speak up. "But what does this have to do with us? We can't force them to return nor can we help them if we don't know what's going on to begin with."

"I am well aware of this," Neo-Queen Serenity spoke as calm as ever, "that is why two of you will travel to Elivion to find out first hand what is happening and if we need to get involved."

Everyone perked up at this. It was clear that all the senshi wanted to be among the two chosen, for it had been many years since there had been an important mission given.

This could be my chance, Kari said to herself.

"But I must warn you, as senshi, you are not the most welcome of guests in Elivion." Kari's attention was brought back when she heard this. "You must be careful not to let your identities slip, for the people there will not hesitate to attack if they were to find out who you truly are."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters.

Chapter 5

Kari swung her saddle up onto the back of her male black horse. He snorted in annoyance as Sol bounced around under his feet. The kitten was trying not to get trampled by Shadow.

"Are you done yet?"

Kari and Sol turned to see Haruka standing outside of Shadow's stall, holding the reigns of a chestnut mare named Sky.

"Almost," Kari said as she tightened the strap that ran under Shadow's belly. "Done." She lifted Sol up onto Shadow's back. He bounded forward so that he could be up on the horse's head , right between his ears.

Shadow gave a quick shake of his head, playfully trying to throw the ginger tom off. He gave up after a few tries.

Kari couldn't help but laugh at them, even though they always acted like this towards each other. She took the reigns and led Shadow out of the stable.

Haruka was already outside and had mounted Sky. The horse was shifting underneath her, anxious to get going.

Kari climbed up onto Shadow and the two were about to take off when a girl with dark blue hair came up and handed Kari and Haruka each a bag. Then, she took a step back and started to explain the contents, "Alright, both of you should have a map, some food, water, and a cloak."

"Thanks, Ami," Haruka said after making sure everything was there. She then turned her gaze to Kari, "You ready?"

Kari nodded and both horses took off toward the gate.

Kari looked around at the dense forest that surrounded them. She and Haruka were traveling on a dirt road that looked as though it had not been used in a long time. Branches and vines were spreading all around, and trees were starting to grow on the path, as if the forest was trying to hidd the fact that it had even existed to begin with.

Haruka brought Sky to a stop right in front of Shadow; forcing Kari to bring him to a sudden stop.

Sol gripped the side of Kari's saddle with his claws, trying to pull himself back up.

Kari reached down and grabbed Sol by the scruff of his neck and lifted him onto the horse. She then turned her attention to Haruka.

"What was that for?"

As usual, Haruka completely ignored the question. She turned Sky around so that her back was to Kari. "There's a fork in the road up head," she said without even looking over her shoulder, "we should split up and explore both routes."

"Do you really think that's the best idea?"

"Unless you have a better one."

"How about looking at the maps?"

Haruka once again took no notice of Kari's input and kept going forward.

Kari let out a sigh. It was pointless to try arguing with her mentor anymore. She started up one of the paths and looked back at Haruka. "I'll go this way," she stated.

A worried look flashed across Haruka's face but vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Fine," Haruka said and headed the other way. Before long, Kari was by herself.

A few hours had passed before Kari found a small stream that ran through the forest. She dismounted and led Shadow to the water's edge. While he drank, Kari took out the map and sat down in the grass to study it.

Sol jumped down off of Shadow's back and curled up next to Kari.

"So," the kitten said looking up at Kari, "where are we exactly?"

"I have no clue."

"What!" Sol jumped to his feet and stared at Kari.

Kari pointed at the map and began to explain herself, "Well, I found the path we started on, but, as far as I can tell, it doesn't have a fork anywhere." She began to fold the map and looked straight at So. "I'm not sure which path is the one on the map that we're supposed to have taken."

"So, we're lost."

"Pretty much." Kari got up and put the map back into her saddlebag. She then turned back to Sol. "you ready to go?"

Sol nodded and Kari picked up the kitten and up him back onto Shadow. She then mounted the horse herself and once again started down the path.


End file.
